THREE courageous women yesterday called for the strengthening of weak safety laws they believe contributed to the deaths of their loved ones.

THREE courageous women yesterday called for the strengthening of weak safety laws they believe contributed to the deaths of their loved ones.

Dawn Williams and Katrina Wynne lost their husbands and Anthea Dennis her son when they were killed at work.

Despite years of promises, the Labour Government has so far failed to make employers more accountable. Now there are fears that only watered-down proposals will be put forward.

The three women spoke at a conference in Cardiff University organised by the Wales TUC and Thompsons Solicitors, the biggest employment rights legal practice in the UK.

Dawn Williams's husband Jeff was one of four men killed four-and-a-half years ago when they plunged from a motorway bridge near Bristol.

Mrs Williams told the conference, "I am the mother of four children and have been asked on many occasions how our lives have been affected by Jeff's death. All I can say is that in every possible way our lives have changed. It has been devastating for me to be a single parent. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

"The loss of their father will change my children for the rest of their lives."

Katrina Wynne, whose husband John was killed in 2001 when a furnace fell on him at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, said, "Our lives have been torn apart. The inquest jury found the Royal Mint had been negligent and returned a verdict of unlawful killing, even though the coroner tried three times [because of the current legal system] to get them to say it was accidental death.

"Yet because of Crown Immunity, no prosecution took place. It seems no one that day was accountable for what happened. I feel that no justice has been done. I was brought up to respect the law, but I feel very bitter and have no faith in the British justice system whatsoever."

Anthea Dennis, whose son Daniel fell to his death on a construction site in Cwmbran last year, said, "The law doesn't do enough to protect employees. After our son died statements were issued from the companies sending sympathy to those close to him. But they don't have to live with the consequences of what happened.

"The last time Daniel left home that morning we had no idea we would never see him alive again. He left home and went to a death sentence. That could be anybody's life if the law is not changed."

Courtney Davis, of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, told how proposals were still awaited from the Labour Government nearly six years after it was elected.

"Since 1997 we have had Southall, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Tebay on the railways alone. There have been over 2,000 deaths at work.

"The Government seems likely to propose no extension of responsibility for individual company directors."

Solicitor Mick Antoniw said that in the last 20 to 25 years he had represented the families of between 40 and 50 people who had been killed at work.

"In every single case I believe the cause of death was avoidable. Every death was the result of an omission or a breakdown in a system. In the Avonbridge case, four people died because there was no end stop on the gantry rail.

"The law is grossly inadequate, with the level of fines an insult."

"I would like to see fines imposed that included an attachment to profits. That would concentrate the minds of those making decisions."

Industrial victims

JEFF WILLIAMS, 42, was one of four motorway workers who plunged 80ft to their deaths in 1999 when a gantry gave way on the M5 Avonmouth Bridge.

Experienced roadworker Mr Williams had been working on the M5 project for two years, commuting every day from his home in Clytha Park, Newport.

Two contracting companies - Yarm Road and Costain - that pleaded guilty two years later to offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act were each fined #250,000.

JOHN WYNNE, 50, of Gilfach Goch, near Cardiff, was killed in June 2001 when a six-tonne furnace fell on him as he worked at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant.

Although management at the Mint admitted liability, Crown Immunity rules meant it could not be prosecuted.

A confidential report was issued to the Health and Safety Executive, the Royal Mint and the Government, but not to Mr Wynne's family.

DANIEL DENNIS, 17, of Pyle, near Bridgend, was killed last April after falling through a skylight during his first week working for a roofing firm.

His parents Peter and Anthea, sister Rachel and brother Mark were at his hospital bed when he died several hours after the accident at Matalan in Cwmbran.